Tipping your waitress?

[Doomsday101]

i feel sorry for you

Don't.I'm tired of your act. You want to insult people fine do it else where.

 

[Denim Chicken]

when a group dashed on a $200+ tab and their tab came out of my tips I didn't average minimum wage that pay period and I didn't receive it back in my check, I have never known a server that didn't make minimum wage for a pay period and got compensated for it, it pretty much doesn't happen

You dont see it happen b/c is rarely does. HR rate plus declared tips almost always work out to over min wage. I was in the business on both ends (manager and waitstaff) and can tell you that if you have any kind of automated system where you have to declare your tips at the end of the night (ie Aloha)--it tracks it and ajusts if necessary.

Also, it is not illegal to make you pay for a walk-out, unless you would not make the minimum wage as a result.

 

[rkell87]

Don't.I'm tired of your act. You want to insult people fine do it else where.

it's no act my friend, I do feel sorry for you, your closed-mindedness will cause you to miss everything cool and die angry

 

[rkell87]

You dont see it happen b/c is rarely does. HR rate plus declared tips almost always work out to over min wage. I was in the business on both ends (manager and waitstaff) and can tell you that if you have any kind of automated system where you have to declare your tips at the end of the night (ie Aloha)--it tracks it and ajusts if necessary.

Also, it is not illegal to make you pay for a walk-out, unless you would not make the minimum wage as a result.

i didn't say it was illegal to make me pay for the walk it, but it did cause me to not make minimum wage as a result, not only on that day but across the whole pay period. I have seen servers work 1-3 shifts in a pay period and if one shift tanks then they don't make minimum wage that pay period yet their check still comes out to 0.00, they did not get adjust to minimum wage.

 

[Tabascocat]

well I feel like a fool for typing out everything a to-go server has to do for your food thinking you might be enlightened, I see now that you are too dense to comprehend that more goes into your meal than "putting food in a bag" and that you believe that a guy getting paid 15$ an hour to change your oil and a person making at least federal minimum wage bagging your groceries is the same as someone making $2.13

What rkell87 typed out is 100% correct. I have been in the business my whole life and am currently about to open my own continental bistro.

I have served/bartended in 5-star establishments for 20 years. I do not want to get into a debate on tipping, but I do tip 25-35% for great service (sometimes more) and 15% for terrible service. It is extremely rare that I tip less than 10%. These figures are based on dining experiences, not fast-food, to-go orders, etc.

About picking up your food, the person in charge (expediter) does indeed do ALOT of work to get it together for you. Do they deserve a 30% tip, probably not, but at least something for their time and trouble. They do make more than the standard 2.13 an hour, usually between 5.00 and 9.00.

Now, on to the issue of employers paying the difference if the server does not meet the minimum wage. This is absolutely not true. For example, over the weekend a huge rainstorm blows in. Instead of making approx. 600.00 for three days of work, the server makes 100.00 total. Too bad, so sadf, that is what is made, it is not rounded up to account for minimum wage.

Again, I do not want to argue, that is why I tried to stay away from this thread. Restaurant employees do quite a bit of work that most will not notice (especially servers).

Yes, there are some bad servers out there who either do not care or are stupid/lazy, but most do try even if they are not mentally sharp enough to deal with other people. I do not want to go into detail the intricacies of dealing with horrible customers (Springs1), but the server is dealing with multiple other areas which includes the kitchen, busboys, bartenders, picking up the slack of worse servers, etc, etc.

Long story short, if you do not want to tip, it is your prerogative but at least tip something and be kind to your server, you do not have any idea what they deal with.

On a side note, do not assume they are beneath you either just because they work in a restaurant. For me, I have two degrees (chemistry and biology) and I can guarantee that I can do most of the jobs my customers do.

P.S. I wish Springs1 would post a picture on the internet so I can blow it up to size and place it on my store window reading - Do not ever let this B%^&% in! That is all, peace.

 

[rkell87]

What rkell87 typed out is 100% correct. I have been in the business my whole life and am currently about to open my own continental bistro.

I have served/bartended in 5-star establishments for 20 years. I do not want to get into a debate on tipping, but I do tip 25-35% for great service (sometimes more) and 15% for terrible service. It is extremely rare that I tip less than 10%. These figures are based on dining experiences, not fast-food, to-go orders, etc.

About picking up your food, the person in charge (expediter) does indeed do ALOT of work to get it together for you. Do they deserve a 30% tip, probably not, but at least something for their time and trouble. They do make more than the standard 2.13 an hour, usually between 5.00 and 9.00.

Now, on to the issue of employers paying the difference if the server does not meet the minimum wage. This is absolutely not true. For example, over the weekend a huge rainstorm blows in. Instead of making approx. 600.00 for three days of work, the server makes 100.00 total. Too bad, so sadf, that is what is made, it is not rounded up to account for minimum wage.

Again, I do not want to argue, that is why I tried to stay away from this thread. Restaurant employees do quite a bit of work that most will not notice (especially servers).

Yes, there are some bad servers out there who either do not care or are stupid/lazy, but most do try even if they are not mentally sharp enough to deal with other people. I do not want to go into detail the intricacies of dealing with horrible customers (Springs1), but the server is dealing with multiple other areas which includes the kitchen, busboys, bartenders, picking up the slack of worse servers, etc, etc.

Long story short, if you do not want to tip, it is your prerogative but at least tip something and be kind to your server, you do not have any idea what they deal with.

On a side note, do not assume they are beneath you either just because they work in a restaurant. For me, I have two degrees (chemistry and biology) and I can guarantee that I can do most of the jobs my customers do.

P.S. I wish Springs1 would post a picture on the internet so I can blow it up to size and place it on my store window reading - Do not ever let this B%^&% in! That is all, peace.

an expediter in my experience is someone who trays up food and makes sure all the food in a order is ready to go, dine in or to-go, but in my example I was talking about a dedicated to-go person, such as a chilis or carinos to-go server who makes server minimum wage

 

[cowboy_ron]

What rkell87 typed out is 100% correct. I have been in the business my whole life and am currently about to open my own continental bistro.

I have served/bartended in 5-star establishments for 20 years. I do not want to get into a debate on tipping, but I do tip 25-35% for great service (sometimes more) and 15% for terrible service. It is extremely rare that I tip less than 10%. These figures are based on dining experiences, not fast-food, to-go orders, etc.

About picking up your food, the person in charge (expediter) does indeed do ALOT of work to get it together for you. Do they deserve a 30% tip, probably not, but at least something for their time and trouble. They do make more than the standard 2.13 an hour, usually between 5.00 and 9.00.

Now, on to the issue of employers paying the difference if the server does not meet the minimum wage. This is absolutely not true. For example, over the weekend a huge rainstorm blows in. Instead of making approx. 600.00 for three days of work, the server makes 100.00 total. Too bad, so sadf, that is what is made, it is not rounded up to account for minimum wage.

Again, I do not want to argue, that is why I tried to stay away from this thread. Restaurant employees do quite a bit of work that most will not notice (especially servers).

Yes, there are some bad servers out there who either do not care or are stupid/lazy, but most do try even if they are not mentally sharp enough to deal with other people. I do not want to go into detail the intricacies of dealing with horrible customers (Springs1), but the server is dealing with multiple other areas which includes the kitchen, busboys, bartenders, picking up the slack of worse servers, etc, etc.

Long story short, if you do not want to tip, it is your prerogative but at least tip something and be kind to your server, you do not have any idea what they deal with.

On a side note, do not assume they are beneath you either just because they work in a restaurant. For me, I have two degrees (chemistry and biology) and I can guarantee that I can do most of the jobs my customers do.

P.S. I wish Springs1 would post a picture on the internet so I can blow it up to size and place it on my store window reading - Do not ever let this B%^&% in! That is all, peace.

Just curious...why would you do that?

 

[Tabascocat]

Just curious...why would you do that?

That comes from being in their spot for years. I would feel guilty if I stiffed them. They do pay out on those tips to other workers such as hostesses, bartenders, busboys and food-runners. For example, lets say my bill is 100.00 and I got bad service. I would still tip between 14 to 16 dollars because almost half of that is tipped out to others. There are a lot of other workers with their hands in the servers pockets at the end of the shift.

On a side note, what I will do in a bad service situation is try to explain what my server did wrong and how I can help them do better at their jobs. Most listen yet some do not, but those who do not care will be weeded out eventually.

Just remember, stiffing a server completely means they paid money to wait on us and that is not right IMO.

 

[Chinfu]

There might be situations where a server/bartender doesn't deserve a tip, for instance being extremely rude and inconsiderate. These cases must be rare because a server relies on tips to earn a living. I've never had to "stiff" someone but will never say never The situation must be really extreme and the act deliberate for it to warrant that.

As for poor service or problems with food, that can't always be attributed to the server. They could be over sat by the host/hostess or the kitchen could mess up an order but speaking from experience the server usually pays for those mistakes.

I feel very sorry for people that don't tip, I always attributed it to them being selfish and/or greedy.

Fortunately for service people everywhere, there are a great deal of generous people who make up for the small percentage that are not. I made really good money waiting tables and tending bar in my youth, that helped me get by.

So instead of venting frustration over the cheap, I would prefer to point out that there are a ton of great people to wait on and that i really enjoyed.

 

[Tabascocat]

There might be situations where a server/bartender doesn't deserve a tip, for instance being extremely rude and inconsiderate. These cases must be rare because a server relies on tips to earn a living. I've never had to "stiff" someone but will never say never The situation must be really extreme and the act deliberate for it to warrant that.

As for poor service or problems with food, that can't always be attributed to the server. They could be over sat by the host/hostess or the kitchen could mess up an order but speaking from experience the server usually pays for those mistakes.

I feel very sorry for people that don't tip, I always attributed it to them being selfish and/or greedy.

Fortunately for service people everywhere, there are a great deal of generous people who make up for the small percentage that are not. I made really good money waiting tables and tending bar in my youth, that helped me get by.

So instead of venting frustration over the cheap, I would prefer to point out that there are a ton of great people to wait on and that i really enjoyed.

Exactly, there are extreme cases we could go into detail but probably best we did not. If for instance a server was very rude or arrogant, then that is a reflection on the establishment itself and should have been fired long ago.

As for customers, I have always treated everyone the same, especially the newer customers I have never seen. So what if they do not tip that great, as long as they are nice to me, I never had a problem waiting on them. Treat them the way I wanted to be treated is/was my motto. I have had some enormous tips over the years, I had this one guy and his wife always give me 200.00 at the door followed by another 3-400 at the end. He came in once a week and was my bread and butter.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was an older guy and his wife, prob late 60's and they looked like they stepped out of the trailer park, had zero dollars and a poor education. Moral of this story is..never judge a book by its cover. They started to come into eat quite often (always asked for me to serve them), usually tipping around 15%, sometimes 20%. Well, after about 6 months and we became friends, I found out he was a big-time attorney and loaded. In short, tips got bigger and bigger from there on out, the avg tip was 100.00 on a 70.00 bill.

So, yes, the great tippers usually make up for the poor ones in the long run. I would find it very rare for any server to not be making decent money over the long haul, if they are then they need to find new work.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

There might be situations where a server/bartender doesn't deserve a tip, for instance being extremely rude and inconsiderate. These cases must be rare because a server relies on tips to earn a living. I've never had to "stiff" someone but will never say never The situation must be really extreme and the act deliberate for it to warrant that.

As for poor service or problems with food, that can't always be attributed to the server. They could be over sat by the host/hostess or the kitchen could mess up an order but speaking from experience the server usually pays for those mistakes.

I feel very sorry for people that don't tip, I always attributed it to them being selfish and/or greedy.

Fortunately for service people everywhere, there are a great deal of generous people who make up for the small percentage that are not. I made really good money waiting tables and tending bar in my youth, that helped me get by.

So instead of venting frustration over the cheap, I would prefer to point out that there are a ton of great people to wait on and that i really enjoyed.

Yeah where I work now I actually have a couple who asked me for my cell phone # so they could text me to make sure I am working. They tip me 20$ every time they eat at my Denny's. They are Airport employees who work graveyard and Denny's is the only place that is near by and open during their break. They eat there 3-4 days week and never tip any less. I always hook em up as much as possible for obvious reasons. I often joke with them about how they Pay my power bill each month.

If you're a good server, people often make up for the jerks you get throughout the night, it's true. You can make great Money serving.

It doesn't matter how fantastic you are though, you will always come across people who are just out to make someone else's day worse, and people who are just impossibly hard to satisfy. Nature of the business.

"Good Service" is relative to what a person believes to be good service. A good server does not treat every table the same. Some people feel is servers are too chatty it's bad, where as others feel if their server doesn't speak with them often it's bad. Part of being a good server is being able to read people well.

Everyone mentions how a waiters service can be slowed down by things like being overly busy, or the cook messing things up, but many people fail to realize that the #1 thing preventing a good waiter from giving the best service is often the guests themselves. I don't mean to say that YOU personally are responsible for how YOU are served, but how you interact with you waiter often effects how he is able to interact with this OTHER guests.

An example of something that happens fairly often. I'll get a large party of people (lets say 8), while I have a few other tables. I wouldn't consider this to be too much to handle in most cases.

After taking the drink order and glancing around the table, I can clearly see people are still reading the menu, and need a few minutes to order. I'll say something to the effect of "I'll give you guys a few minutes to decide". Many times you'll have just ONE person at that table speak for everyone else and say something like "no we can order now".

Now clearly everyone is *Not* ready to order, but no one ever speaks up in these situations, they just go into rush mode, and often times feel I'm the one rushing them to decide, because they were paying no attention to the previous dialogue. So I am forced to stand there for an overly long period of time as people are still deciding what they want, but It would be considered rude to point out that they are not ready, and walk away.

Meanwhile I have other tables who have slurped down their beverage, and I am too busy standing at a table waiting for people to decide what they want to get refills. Most people are oblivious to this type of stuff, and simply assume I'm a bad server who leaves their drinks empty.

Not only did the person who said they were ready make everyone else at his own party feel like I was rushing them, but he also forced me into a bad position with my other tables as well.

Other examples such as having to answer the same question for multiple people at a table, because no one ever pays attention to what is going on until I am speaking to them directly. Or making multiple trips to the same table because every time I go there they ask for something else, even if I ask them if there is anything else I can get them. All of these things effect my service with the other tables around them.

One person can only do so much, and there is a lot going on that can negatively effect the service I am giving you, that's out of my control. Again, just the nature of the business.

 

[CliffnDallas]

what about curbside? like at applebee's where they bring your "to go" order out to you in your car? I would say give a buck or two

That's why I tip the kids a little something at Sonic. They bring the food out to my car.